


Of Loopholes and Determination

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [52]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Amused Tony Stark, Breaking The Rules, Defiant Peter Parker, Disappointed Peter Parker, Happy Ending, Peter Parker is Trying His Best, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Peter Parker is a Mess, Sassy Peter, Sneaking Around, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Grounds Peter Parker, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24479056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: Peter goes into the lab alone and causes a small...explosionand Tony makes a new rule that prevents him from messing with anything in there while unsupervised.After some time,  Peter decides that said rule is ridiculous and he attempts to avoid it in order to be able to fix his web-shooter without having to wait for his mentor to get out of a meeting.  Things do not go as expected, Peter ends up grounded by Tony Stark himself and how crazy is that?  However, Peter doesn't plan to comply.  He's got a plan...
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [52]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1397362
Comments: 16
Kudos: 195





	Of Loopholes and Determination

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pandalove09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandalove09/gifts).



> For Pandalove09's birthday, I decided to take this 'ask' that was sent me on Tumblr and expand on it. :D
> 
> \----------
> 
> [spideylilparker](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/spideylilparker) asked:  
> Concept: Peter being told he is not allowed to be by himself in the lab since the last time he almost blows up half of the lab, but he doesn't listen and decide to have a huge fight with Tony, Tony grounds him just to find out he sneaks into the lab at 3 am without his permission to work on his wedshooters. SASSY PETER ACTIVATES 😩
> 
> [ yes-i-am-happyaspie](https://yes-i-am-happyaspie.tumblr.com)answered:  
> Tony: *glares menacingly* Peter Benjamin Parker I swear to God, I’ve already grounded you for this. Today. I grounded you today for this very thing. What do you think you’re doing!
> 
> Peter: *glares back(not so menacingly)* You can’t ground me! I do what I want! *flips table-papers and tools go flying*
> 
> Tony: *raises an eyebrow*
> 
> Peter: *squeaks* I’m sorry! I’m cleaning it up right now!

"FRIDAY? Is Mr. Stark in the lab?" Peter asked as he happily entered the building. He was pretty sure he'd finally come up with a solution that would increase the tensile strength or his webs by at least four percent making it a more viable option against larger foes. He was excited to go over the formulas with his mentor and get to work so that he could test it as soon as possible. Every improvement of his equipment got him that much closer to being recognized as an actual Avenger. He was sure the stronger webs would be a compelling addition to his arsenal, which is why he was disappointed when the AI informed him that his mentor was in a shareholders meeting. 

After some thought, he decided that going into the lab alone would be fine. He'd been in there a hundred times over and knew every piece of equipment in it backward and forwards. He knew when to wear safety equipment and he knew how to clean up after himself. He could see no reason why he shouldn't go ahead and get started on the complicated concoction, especially since it would take a full twenty-four hours to complete. That and he was nearly certain that the calculations were correct. Having Tony look over them beforehand was more of a precaution than a necessity. He knew what he was doing.

After opening up all of his notes, Peter collected the numerous items he'd need from the chemical cabinet that had been brought into the lab specifically for his use. He laid out the containers in the order he would need them and started heating up the small gas burner. While that was getting up to temperature, he started collecting a few glass beakers to use for mixing. Once he had everything lined up he put on some safety goggles and pulled on the tightly fitted gloves. 

Everything was going well. He perfectly gauged the first two ingredients before cautiously opening up the container that held the methanol. As he started to slowly measure the small amount that he needed to complete the first part of the formula he remembered that he should have turned the ventilation fan on first and reached over to do that. As he did so, his elbow hit the still open bottle of methanol sending it spilling over the countertop. In his panic to clean up the mess before it could cause any damage, he abandoned his original task of turning on the fan and ran across the room to collect a few old rags to wipe up the mess. 

He'd just gotten to the supply closet when his spider-sense started screaming at him to duck and cover. It didn't take long for him to realize it was because after he'd run off, the fumes of the spilled liquid had wafted towards the open flame of the burner he'd set aside causing a chain reaction of small explosions. "Oh my God..." he breathed out as he watched his work station go up in literal flames. His frazzled brain was still trying to come up with what he was meant to do next when DUM-E came whirring across the room with a fire extinguisher, dousing nearly half the lab in the retardant foam. Even things that _weren't on fire._

After waiting a few minutes for things to cool down, Peter carefully walked back over to the area he'd been working in to turn on the fan and examine the damage. It was significant. The counter was scorched and some of the nearby small appliances were warped from the heat. As he took a few steps forward he heard glass crunching under his feet but more concerning, he heard the lab doors sliding open and feet rapidly slapping the tile as his mentor hurriedly approached him.

"Pete! Jesus Christ. Are you okay?" Tony asked as he pulled Peter back from the mess by the collar of the shirt.

"I'm sorry. I'm fine, Mr. Stark. I wasn't, I wasn't over here when it happened. I was in the supply closet" Peter replied, still looking around the room in slight shock. He'd not been expecting any of that to happen. He'd been through that chemical process over a dozen times and nothing of that nature ever happened before. Not even close. 

"Well, thank God for small mercies. FRIDAY? Scan him for injuries just to be sure," Tony clipped back, the tension in his shoulders easing only slightly when the AI reported that the spiderling was completely unharmed. Though the cross look on his face never wavered. "Well, since you're a-okay, how about you tell me what the hell happened. All FRIDAY told me was that you were here and that there was a chemical explosion."

Peter swallowed and began to explain the series of events, starting with his breakthrough idea leading all the way up to where they were. Tony nodded along as he spoke, his jaw clenched too tightly to interrupt. "-and, and then DUM-E put out the fire. Then you walked in," Peter hesitantly finished and tensely awaited the man's reaction. Though he didn't get one right away. It seemed that DUM-E was eager for some recognition of his own as he rolled towards his creator, happily chirping and waving around the completely spent fire extinguisher. 

For a moment, Tony's attention was pulled from his young mentee as the typically clumsy bot gently and repeatedly bumped into his legs. He looked down and rolled his eyes at the enthusiasm. "Yes, DUM-E. Good job. You finally got it right. Thank God," he flatly praised before looking back up at Peter with renewed worry. "What were you thinking? When have you ever been allowed to come in here and start mixing random chemicals without supervision?"

"They weren't random chemicals, Mr. Stark!" Peter defended without thought. "They're the same chemicals I've been using _since before I met you_ and you never said I wasn't allowed in here without supervision. Ever."

With a curt nod of his head, Tony took a few steps back and ran his hand over the burnt countertops. "Well, I'm saying it now, then. You're not allowed to mess around _with anything_ without supervision," he stated without room for argument but when the teenager looked three seconds from shouting he raised his own voice first. "You blew up half the lab, kid!"

"It's not half the lab. It's just this one corner," Peter disputed, gesturing wildly towards the majority of the lab that remained unharmed. None of the large expensive equipment had been destroyed. Not that he thought that replacing a countertop, a few burners, and some chemicals would be cheap or anything. He knew it would probably cost more than every single one of his possessions combined but the point was, he'd _not_ destroyed _half the lab_. The man was exaggerating and making it sound way worse than it was. 

"Are you seriously going to argue with me about semantics right now?" Tony questioned with a disbelieving shake of his head. 

"I'm not arguing!" Peter snapped back with indignance. "I'm just saying-"

"-I'm going to stop you right there-" Tony interrupted, holding up his hand to silence the already red-faced teenager before he could say anything that might make him want to pull his own hair out. "- because if you feel the need to add the words ' _I'm just saying'_ to the beginning of your explanation then it's _definitely_ an argument and I don't want to hear it _,"_ he said with finality but boy stomped his foot and growled all the same.

"You're not even listening to me, Mr. Stark!" Peter practically screamed and it took every ounce of self-control Tony had to not flinch at the volume.

"I don't need to listen to you argue. I'm the adult. What I say goes," Tony matter-of-factly stated with his arms crossed firmly over his chest. "No more messing with chemicals or anything else unless I'm here with you. Now zip it and go get a broom and a dustpan. You're cleaning all this up."

Peter reluctantly did as he was asked and stormed off to get the requested cleaning supplies. It took the majority of the afternoon to get everything back into some semblance of order but by the time it was done both Tony and Peter had calmed down enough for things to fall back into a normal rhythm. There was no time for them to work on anything of significance but they were able to eat dinner together and hugged each other good-bye before Peter threw on his spider-suit and dove out the window to go out on patrol.

__________

Almost a month had passed before Peter even considered going into the lab alone. When he did, it was a Friday evening and he was meant to be spending the weekend with Tony while May was out of town with some friends. In his excitement, he'd swung straight from school over to the tower, instead of squeezing in some patrol time as he typically would and once he got there he hopped right into the elevator that led to the lab without consideration. It never crossed his mind that since he was showing up a half an hour earlier than planned that the man might still be working in his office.

"Mr. Stark?" He asked when he walked into a decidedly quiet lab. Typically if Tony was in there, the music was blaring. He paused for a moment, trying to decide what to do. knew that _technically_ he wasn't supposed to be in there alone but he'd really wanted to take look at one of his web-shooters. It had been sitting a little too loosely on his wrist and he really needed to adjust that. The process was simple. All he needed was a screwdriver and maybe a few new screws. He would be done before the man ever knew he was in there.

"Good afternoon, Peter" The AI greeted before he could get too terribly far into the room. "Due to the 'No-No Don't Touch Protocol' I'm required to remind you that you are not permitted to enter the lab unsupervised"

"No," Peter protested with a frown, trying his hardest to come up with a loophole that would allow him to continue with his plans. "He said I'm not allowed _to mess with anything_ unsupervised and I'm not. I know how to use a basic tool kit," he said while grabbing a can of soda out of the fridge and sitting down at one of the tall tables by the door. 

"The boss was very clear with his instructions-" The AI countered with what sounded like disapproval but Peter simply blew her off an irritated wave of his hand.

"-It's fine, FRIDAY. I'm not going to touch anything. I'll just sit here and wait for him," he grumbled, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to sit and do nothing until Tony returned. Yet, the longer he sat there, the more annoyed he became. The rule was absolutely _ridiculous_ but with FRIDAY watching him he didn't dare try anything. Instead, he pulled the book he was supposed to be reading for Language Arts out of his bag. After finishing the required chapters in no time at all, he sighed and pulled out his Spanish notes. When those didn't hold his attention he found himself resting his chin on his palm and looking around the room. Eventually, his eyes fell on his mentor's worktable, and on it was a brand new version of the Iron Man helmet. 

After some self-debate, the curiosity outweighed all reason and he carefully stood up and began to cross the room, telling himself that looking at it wouldn't be a problem. As long as he didn't touch it, everything would be fine and FRIDAY probably wouldn't snitch on him. Though once he got in front of it, his right hand started to move on its own accord. His fingertips were just starting to brush over the smooth, cool metal of the faceplate when the doors slid open and Tony's voice came booming into the room, causing him to flinch.

"Mr. Parker. You _are_ aware that the rules didn't change just because you're staying here for a few days, yes?" Tony inquired, taking several long strides towards where his mentee was standing. "You, my favorite young adult, are not supposed to be here without me, and even if by some chance you forgot, I know for a fact that FRIDAY reminded you. So, imagine my surprise when I got out of my meeting and was informed that you were down here _touching my stuff_."

"I wasn't going to do anything with it! I was just looking, I swear" Peter guardedly replied. His heart was still racing from being snuck up on, which he didn't even know was possible thanks to his spider-sense but he supposed that Tony, even when mad at him, wasn't an actual threat. 

Tony clicked his tongue a few times and allowed his eyes to purposefully fall to where the kid's hand was still resting on the top of the helmet. "Right. Except _we look with our eyes and not with our fingers_ , kiddo," he teased despite the fact that he was beyond annoyed that the kid couldn't seem to follow one simple instruction. There was literally no reason for him to wait in the lab versus, well, literally _anywhere else in the building._

After promptly jamming both of his hands into his pockets, Peter dropped his eyes to the floor and shifted his weight. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I wasn't going to do anything, though, honest. I was just-" he began, cutting himself off before he could say _'going to look at it'_ again. He'd already been called out for touching. "-I was just checking it out."

Tony hummed in response and folded his arms in front of him. "Well, you're going to have to wait a little longer to really ' _check it out'_ because you're grounded from the lab for the rest of the weekend," he said as if calmly doling out punishments to teenagers was a regular event for him. 

"You're grounding me?" Peter squawked in astounded dismay. He was going to say more but Tony was already talking over him.

"Uh, yeah, Kid. In fact, May gave me _expressed_ permission to do so at my discretion. Her exact words were ' _Make sure you keep him in line whenever he's with you. Ground him if you need to_.' Of course, I never thought it would ever come to that. Then, low and behold, out of nowhere, you decide to break the only _real_ rule I've ever given you."

"Come on, Mr. Stark. That's not fair. I didn't actually do anything wrong and I need to fix my web-shooter," Peter whined, still not seeing the problem. Sure, in reality, he knew he wasn't supposed to be in the lab but nothing had happened. Grounding his seemed a little excessive. "How am I supposed to patrol with a wonky web-shooter?" he asked with an incredulous laugh. The man had to be joking. There was no way he was actually grounding him from the lab.

"You can leave it down here, Buddy," Tony replied with regret. "I'll fix it for you later tonight."

The promise of a repair did nothing to ease Peter's disappointment. So rather than calmly handing over the faulty device, he grabbed his backpack and sulked out of the lab, up to the bedroom in the penthouse that had been designated as his. That's where he stayed for the majority of the evening. Only when Tony knocked on his door and told him that there was pizza did he emerge and to the man's credit, he did _try_ to engage him in some friendly conversation as they ate. He just wasn't in the mood to participate. He still couldn't quite believe that _Tony Stark_ had actually grounded him. He supposed he should be slightly thankful that the man didn't take the suit or tell him he wasn't allowed to patrol but even that realization wasn't enough to make him want to go out of his way to spend any extra time with his mentor at the moment.

Tony finally stopped trying to lure Peter out of his room somewhere around eleven, when the kid lied and said that he was going to sleep. _Of course, he didn't know the kid had lied_ , he'd assumed the boy had simply worn himself out brooding for the last several hours. He just hoped that the teenager had a better attitude in the morning. He'd been looking forward to spending some extra time with the kid and if he was being honest, he sort of regretted grounding him for the entirety of the weekend. It had crossed his mind to amend that stance so that they could work together in the lab the next day but when the boy had continued to throw him dirty looks and avoid talking to him throughout dinner he'd changed his mind. He couldn't decide if he was being petty or _parental_. 

As he lay in his bed, still wide awake, Peter started trying to come up with a plan that would get him into the lab because he was bound and determined to get his web-shooter adjusted _himself_ even if that meant sneaking around. He didn't think it would be terribly hard. He knew that Tony would be asleep by two in the morning. He also knew that the man usually put FRIDAY on silent once he'd gone to bed so that he would only be alerted about emergencies. All he would have to do would be to convince the AI that him using a screwdriver and digging through the spare parts bin _wasn't an emergency_.

Right on schedule, Peter heard Tony walking down the hall towards his room, whispering for FRIDAY to switch to her usual evening settings and couldn't stop himself from smiling at the predictability. He decided to give it another half an hour before slipping out of his own room and down into the lab, determined not to get caught. As was suspected, FRIDAY was reminding him of not only the stupidly, childishly named protocol but also that he wasn't meant to be in there _at all_ for the weekend. "I know FRIDAY. I'm only here to use a screwdriver and a few parts."

When the AI proceeded to tell him that she was going to have to alert Tony of his presence in the lab he nodded his head and took a deep breath. "You're only allowed to wake him up if something's wrong and everything is fine," he said and assumed he'd won the argument when FRIDAY didn't say anything else to him. "Finally, he whispered under his breath before going about the room collecting the handful of tools he thought he might need. Then he took a seat, started taking apart the web-shooter, and was solely focused on getting the job done within seconds. That meant that when Tony came into the lab calling his name he startled and nearly fell out of his chair.

"Peter Benjamin Parker! I swear to God, I’ve already grounded you for this. Today. I grounded you today for this very thing. What do you think you’re doing!" the man shouted as he came through the doors, already glaring menacingly at his mentee. He'd just finished reading a few articles on his tablet and had been seconds from flipping out his lights when the AI had informed him that the boy was in the lab without permission. _...again._

With his heart still pounding in his chest, Peter returned the glare, though his was admittedly far less threatening and gripped the table so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Then on a whim, he shouted "You can't ground me! I do what I want!" before dramatically turning the table onto its side sending several tools clanking onto the tiled floor. From there, it took him less than two seconds to realize that he'd gone _a touch too far_ and instantly went from stupidly upset to timidly contrite. Even so, he swallowed hard and look at his mentor who now had his hands set firmly on his hips. Despite that, he tried to keep his features firm. That worked all the way up until the man raised a questioning eyebrow in his direction. That's all it took for the repressed apologies to pull ahead causing an involuntary squeak to leave his slightly parted lips. 

"I'm sorry. I'm cleaning it up right now," he announced, already bending over to collect some of the scattered items. He was sure Tony was going to kill him and when he was done with him, May was going to kill him all over again. As if sneaking into the lab once wasn't bad enough, now he'd done it twice. _In less than twelve hours._

As Tony stood back and quietly watched Peter scurry around he was forced to bite back the smile that was trying to creep across his face. He'd seen the kid get mad before. He'd also seen him sulk and had listened to him shout and argue but never had he ever seen him act so... _irrational_ and it had been sort of hilarious to watch. Long gone were the days of hero worship and the typically compliant, if not slightly mouthy kid had morphed into an ever so slightly disobedient teenager. However, the funniest part of that was that although the current rebellion was so mild _that it could hardly even be called rebellion,_ it was so incredibly uncharacteristic of the boy he'd come to know that he couldn't stop the laugh that eventually bubbled out of him. "How am I supposed to punish _that?_ " he questioned more to himself than anything else but was unsurprised when the kid answered anyway.

"Well, um, Aunt May would ground me for another weekend and, and probably make me write an apology note," Peter replied as he looked down at a smudge on his shoe and shifted on his feet. 

"An apology note? Seriously?" Tony asked with a smirk and a quirk of his brow. He was pretty sure the kid apologized enough without having to write it down as well. Then it crossed his mind that maybe the excessive apologies were a result of the kid's upbringing. God, knows he'd never been asked to apologize for anything. Written or otherwise. He made a mental note to not give the kid such a hard time about it in the future and sighed.

"Mm-hmm," Peter replied, still not chancing eye contact. "She says that handwritten communication is a dying art and that those kinds of notes are more meaningful," he explained before chacing a look at his mentor's face. He'd expected Tony to be looking at him with narrow eyes and a frow and was somewhat thrown off when he realized that the man was smiling at him. He wasn't sure what to do with that. May never smiled at him when he was in trouble. She'd hug him when it was over and tell him that she loved him but she didn't smile. 

Tony crossed the room towards Peter and placed a gentle hand on his slumped shoulder. "You don't have to write any notes and I'm definitely not grounding you any further. Clearly, that didn't work for me anyway," he defeatedly replied before moving his hand to the back of the kid's neck, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "How about we settle this with an agreement, hmm?" he asked having already decided that any and all future grounding would be left to May. He'd have to find his own way of handling the teenager's rare bouts of defiance and talking it out seemed like a good place to start.

"What kind of an agreement?" Peter dubiously inquired. 

Tony chuckled and started to guide the kid towards the door. "The kind where you and I go upstairs and eat a bowl of ice cream while renegotiating lab rules," he said, outright laughing when the boy turned to look at him in utter confusion.

"It's almost three in the morning, Mr. Stark" Peter stated though he had to admit he was hungry. He'd not eaten anything since dinner and that had been hours ago. A snack sounded extremely appealing, he just wasn't sure that his mentor had considered the time when he'd offered the frozen confection rather than... cheese and crackers or something.

Tony nodded his head and smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to blow right past the ice cream part and skip to the discussion?" he asked with a shrug. "Because I suppose we can do that."

"No, I want the ice cream!" Peter returned without missing a beat because if the man was offering an early morning bowl of ice cream, then he could get behind that. 

"That's what I thought, Kiddo," Tony murmured as he nudged his kid into the elevator and instructed the AI to take them home. 


End file.
